What do they do at Kibbutz Gezer? (Hint: It's not carrots!)

Happy Chanukah to everyone! Today we continued the sufganiyah rounds, trying to get a sampling from all the bakeries in Modi'in. Our motto is "Eight Days, Eight Bakeries." So far, so good. Sunday, if you recall, was Mega and Roladin (ok, eight days, nine bakeries). Monday was Supersol, and today was English Cake. If I had to give a title to our excursion to English Cake, it would be "Transliteration - Confusing the Heck out of Generations of Children." English Cake, in Hebrew, is also "English Cake." Ariella asked me, "What does 'kuf, yud, yud, kuf' spell?" I told her it was "cake" written in Hebrew. Silence for a few moments as she pondered that. "But Mommy, cake in Hebrew is 'oogah!'" I had to admit that she was right, and I hereby am starting a new political party whose platform is to get English Cake to change their Hebrew name to "Oogat Anglit." While we're at it, we will also attempt to get "Shufersal" to change their name to "Supersol," and work at transferring the currency of Israel to New Poofahs. It's an ambitious agenda, but I am confident we are up to the challenge. After a good nap and a caramel sufganiya, of course. If anyone has a good name for my new political party, please let me know.

Kappayim to Momz! Momz ran into (Sbad, make sure you are sitting) MRS STEINHART of nivim fame! And actually told her the nivim story! If only Mrs. Steinhart knew how far her nivim traveled. From Israel, to Baltimore, back to...Israel. Ok, not terribly far, but you get the point.

Today Ariella and I had a mother-daughter tiyul to Kibbutz Gezer. It's sort of like the Mother-Daughter Banquet we had back in the day at Bais Yaakov, except that it's nothing like that at all. The Misrad HaKlitah organizes events, tiyulim, chugim, etc for olim, and they have a bunch of trips planned for Chanukah. Today, since Yaakov still had gan, I signed up Ariella and myself for the trip. We packed our snacks, got to go on a big bus, and Aiden was there, so all was well. Many of my ulpan posse were there, so Mommy had friends also. When we got to the kibbutz, they had coffee/tea and pretzels and water out for everyone. It was the first day since I got to Israel that it was actually COLD! I mean, we still only wore sweatshirts, and I haven't resorted to tights yet, but it was pretty chilly and windy. They did a short introduction about the kibbutz and then sent the kids off to do kiddie activities and had a tour for the grownups. I started out at the grown-up tour, but after a half hour, our guide hadn't pointed out any mikvahs, cemetaries, or famous battle sites, so I got bored and went to join the kiddies. It turns out they were having a MUCH better time. I came just in time for PITA baking! It was so much fun - the kids got totally covered in flour and dough, and when they formed their pita, they brought it over to this guy who was in charge of this massive fireplace-y thing that was a pita oven. He baked each kid's pita, and they even had plates of olive oil and zatar seasoning to dip it in! We love food! They did some more activities, told the story of Chanukah, did coloring, and then we ate our little picnic lunches and got back on the bus. When Ariella and I got home, after nearly being blown over by the wind in the one-of-a-kind Dimri Wind Tunnel, we collapsed on the couch and fell asleep for a little bit. Fun is tiring! (Just ask Dadz. He's going to need a nap just after reading about other people's fun.)
PS After spending four hours at Kibbutz Gezer, I am still not sure what exactly it is they do. But pita making sure is fun!

Speaking of DIMRI, here is another gem from the great minds that run this place: Saturday night there is a knock on our door. Whenever the va'ad of the building needs to tell us something, they come knocking on our door at a late hour. At this late hour, I am already in pajamas and in no state to answer the door. (Full disclosure: I am often in my pajamas before the hour could really be considered "late.") So Donny answers the door and talks to this guy in the hallway. This time, the knock was about garbage bags. Apparently, even though the garbage chutes on each floor are humongous, roughly the size of a cow, the trash bags are getting stuck in them. Somehow. Don't ask me how. This is becoming a Giant Garbage Problem. So they came by with appropriate size garbage bags. These bags are approximately the size of a sandwich baggie. They could hold maybe one dustpan full of noodles that Yaakov dropped on the floor, but are nowhere near large enough to contain the massive amounts of refuse that the Rose household accumulates on a daily basis. (We also have massive amounts of refuse, but that's a topic for my book on child-rearing.) Now, you brilliant minds at Dimri, you need to buy me a new garbage can to go with the new garbage bags. Seriously. These things are so tiny. I actually bought a new, tiny garbage can, but it doesn't come with the foot thingy we cherish so. Donny, in another BRILLIANT SCHEME, placed the new, tiny garbage inside the old, large, garbage can, so now we can use the foot thingy on the old garbage can while actually placing our trash in new, tiny garbage can. Is this man brilliant or what? Did you hear about his plan for going to the gym? It's mind-blowing, I tell you!

Anyway, I started this post pre-sufganiya, but now I am finishing this post post-sufganiya, and I have to tell you - folks, we have a winner! Oogat Anglit has the most superior sufganiot that we have sampled! Soft, with the right amount of crispness and sugar on the outside, and filling that's more than just a show for the customers. We sampled jelly, caramel, and cream (don't worry, they were "small"). Delicious! The question is now - do we continue sampling from different bakeries? Or will that be a waste of powdered sugar and we should just go back to Oogat Anglit? Readers - what do you think?

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